Pottery-press.



Patented July 17, 1917.

Y 2 sHEETsfsHEET H. IVIUELLER.

POTTERY PRESS. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. I0, I9I4. 1193399@ mem-Qd July 17, 19m

. more or less and causes a crack bmirnn saar-ris i cierren HILMAB, MUELLERMOF TRENTON, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNR T0 THE COOK 8:: M'UELLER,

COMPANY, OF TRENTON, NEW JERSEY,

A FIRM COMPOSEID- 0F CHARLES HOWELL 000K, PAUL G. DURYEA, HAROLD P. HUMFHREY, ANTHONY COMFORT, AND IEXLMR MUELLEB, ALL 0F TREN'TON, NEW JERSEY.

POTTERYQPRESS.

Specicaticn of Letters Patent.

' Patented duly ttf, ilill't'a Application filed. September 10, 1914. Serial Noitil To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, HILMAR Multum, a citizen el' the United States, residing at Trenton, in'the county of Mercer and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Pottery-Presses, of which the following is a full, clear, and

' exact description,

In the manufacture of porcelain and similar articles by the so-called dust method, the argillaceous material, in a finely divided condition, is placed in a die or mold and then pressed in the die by means of another die part usually carried by a reciprocatory plunger. as a press, and heretofore the plunger carrying the movable part ot the die has been actuated by a screw which the 'workman rotates manually. This operation.' is exceedingly laborious, and at thesame time requires a high degree of-sirill, especially when the article to be molded or pressed is com licated in 'form or structure. I

T e argillaceous material in the die or mold being loose and uncompacted it contains a considerable amount of air, and when the lunger rst comes down this entrapped vair is compressed throughout the body of the article. Then when the plun ger is raised, the compressed air expands ed article. lt is therefore necessary for the workman to bring the plunger down again for thepurpose ot ycompacting the material after the air previousli entrapped in its pores has escapedsjffihis process is known as 6sitting,and obviously, it materially mcreases the time and labor involved in moldin the article.

y present invention has for its chief cbject to provide a press 1n which the fairmg or release of the entrapped air is in'eect automatic and does not require repeated manual operations even when thepress is actuated by hand.

Anothe'r object of the invention is to provide a m'achine which can be actuated by power, thereby reducing to practically noth- 'ing the nrhscular elortrequired of theoperlA still further object isv ator or attendant.

for the power driven machine a system of manual control which will enable the operator to produce, with all necessary The apparatus employed is known in the moldexactitude, the pressure-variations, sometimes very delicate, required in the molding of certain articles and heretofore obtainable only by those workmen who possess a-very high degree of skill I The preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in whicl Figure l is a side view and Fig. 2 a Jfront view of the machine.

Figs. 3 and /i are detail plan and crosssectionalvviews, respectively7 the former on an enlarged scale, of the manual controlling mechanism.

The standard 10, on which the various parts of the machine are mounted, is supported by a base 11, provided with a treadle 12 for the purpose hereafter described. Above the base the standard is threaded, as at 13, to receive an internally threaded sleeve 14 on which rests a split sleeve 15 surrounding the standard -and carrying a forwardly extending table 1.6. They sleeve 14 is provided with a hand wheel 17 by which it can be turned to raise or lower the table to the position most convenient for the workman, after which the split sleeve 15 is clamped firmly to the column or standard by means of a binding screw 18 actuated by a hand lever 19.

0n the underside of the table I?) is an internally threaded boss 20, in which works a screw 21 having a lock nut 22. Two orv more pins 23, on which the movable bottom of the female die-member 24 is` supported, extend down through the table and "rest on the screw 21, so that by rotating the screw in the boss the bottom of the said die member can be raised or lowered independently of the table 16.

Above the table is a bracket composed of a split sleeve 25, encircling the column or standard l0, and a pair of upper arms 26 and lower Aarm 27 the latter constituting a guide Jfor the vertically reciprocatory plunger 28 which carries on its lower end -themale diemember 29 tov coperate with the die member 24 above mentioned. Inside the sleeve 25, the standard is provided with rack teeth 30, meshing with a pinion 31 which 'can be rocked by a suitable handle 32, for easy and accurate adjustment of the bracket. When the bracket is brought to the proper positionthe sleeve25 canrbe bound firmly upon the standard by means of the clamping screws l ln the arms 26 is a pair of circular bearing-blocks 34, rigidly connected on the out- 'side to the lever-frame 35 provided at the front with a handle 36 and'at the rear with an :adjustable counter-Weight 37. The crank shaft 38, the crank of which is connected with the plunger 28 by a pitmanll39, is journaled eccentrically in the bearings 34,

l and is driven by a lpulley 40. From the `foregoing it will be seen th while the stroke 4of the plunger 28 is constant relatively to the shaft 38, the extent* of vapproach of the plunger to the tabley 16 depends upon the extent of which the operator rocks the bearings 34. With the bearings in the position shown in Fig.A 1,.'the' 20 die-member 29 Will penetrate a certain distance into themember24 and will produce a corresponding compression of the argillaceous material therein. If this compression is not sufficient the operator can in- 25 crease it to any desired extent by depressing the frame 35, thereby rocking the bearing blocks 34 and moving the shaft 38 downward. The rotation of the shaft then moves the plunger' down farther, with correspondingly greater compression of the material in the mold 24. Inasmuch as each rotation of the shaft produces one compression, successive compressions Will be produced as long as the shaft rotates. Also, 35 the first compression or series of compressions can be as light as desired, and the succeeding compression or series of compressions can be successively" heavier, so that the material in the mold is compacted progressively until the desired density is produced. z Theoperation is thus at all times under the control ofthe operator, and this control is i farmore accurate than any that is possible with the lrior machines.

In `explanation of the airing process -mentioned hereinbefore, consider a single revolution of the crankshaft. The rst effect is to -drivethedie-memloer 29 into the member 24, compressing the argillaceous material and also compressing the air enltrapped therein.l As the crank passes the lowest point lin its path the plunger, rises, v,permitting the compressed air to expand and escape from thematerial until the pressure-therein is reduced to atmospheric. If

lll

f the .shaft Were then stopped, the article would be imperfect; but a second revolution of the shaft again compresses the material yof which the article is composed, this time Q0, Without compressing the air in its pores (the excess air having escaped) or at most with .too slight a compression of the air to cause injury to the article when the pressure is relievedrby the upward movement of the plunger. The mold is therefore aired at each rise of the'plunger; and as many airings and compressions as may be required to produce a perfect article can be given merely by letting the shaft rotate a sufficient number of times. Moreover, while these airings are being given, the extent of compression can be progressively increased by depressing the shaft through the medium of the lever 35.

I prefer to control the rotation of the crankshaft 38 by means of the lever 35, in such manner that the shaft will rotate as long as the lever is held below a certain position. This result can be conveniently attained by means of the mechanism illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4, which will now he described.

On the shaft 38 at the right-hand end thereof are two collars 41, 42, spaced apart as shown, to provide a circumferential groove 43, and both the collars and the shaft are grooved axially as at 44. In this axial groove is a sliding bolt or pin 45 having its outer end 46 rounded to fit into a corresponding hole 47 in the hub 48 of the pulley 40,\vhich latter is loose on the sha ft and is constantly driven by belt. A spring 49 urges the bolt rightwardly into the hub 48; andit is evident that so long as the bolt is in engagement With the hub the shaft 38 will be rotated. The bolt 45 is provided with a transverse notch or slot 45.

On the adjacent arm 2G is a bracket 26 carrying a pivoted dog 50, having a beveled end (shown in plan in Fig. 3) which is normally held in the groove 43 and notch 45n by a spring 52. -This holds the bolt 45 out of engagement with the hub 48, with the result that the. pulley revolves idly. On the adjacent arm of the frame 35 is a stud 53 above the dog 50. Now when the operator rocks the frame 35 to depress the shaft, the stud 53 swings the dog on its pivot and raises the Ibeveled' end thereof out of the notch 45, thus allowing the spring 49 to shift the bolt rightwardly and carry the end 46 thereof into the hole 47 as soon as the latter comes opposite the bolt. The shaft and the pulley are thus connected and the former begins to revolve, continuing its rotation as long as the dog is held out of the groove 43. When, however, the operator releasesI the frame 35, allowing the spring 52 to swing the dog back into the groove, the left edge or face of the notch '45 (which Was not quite closed by the rightward shifting of the bolt by the spring 49) strikes the beveled end of the dog as the bolt revolves with the shaft, and is cammed back, thereby shifting the bolt out of engagement with the hub. The pulley is then free again, and revolves idly' until the next actuation of the controlling frame 35. To bring the shaft and the parts actuated thereby quickl to rest after release of the bolt from the riv- 130 and while it is revolving, thus makingg the successive compressions heavier and heavier, as already described.

To remove the pressed article from the die 24 the movable bottom thereof can be raised by pressure on the treadle 12, which:

lifts the rod 54 (movable vertically in the screw 21) and thereby raises the bottom of the die until the molded article is exposed above the top. Release of .the treadle after removal of the article permits the bottom to' return to its initial position.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the construction herein speciflcally illustrated and described, but can be embodied in other forms within the scope of the following claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a pottery press, in combination, a support for a lower die-member, a vertically reciprocating plunger adapted to carry an upper die-member on its lower end to cooperate with a lower die-member on said support, a rotary shaft connected with said plunger to actuate the same, circular bearmembers in which said shaft is eccentrica ly journaled, supporting means for the ltating the bearing members to shift the plunger and shaft to'ward the lower diebearing members, and manual means for rotilt member support,l as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In a pottery press, in combination, a support for a lower die-member, a vertlcally reciprocatory' plunger adapted to carry an upper die-member for cooperation with a lower die-member on said support, a rotary shaft connected with the plunger to actuate the same, manual means to depress the plunger and shaft toward the said support, power-driven means to rotate the shaft, automatic mechanism to connect the shaft with said power-driven means when the shaft is depressed and to disconnect the same when the shaft 'is raised to initial position, and automatic braking means operating to brake the shaft when the same is raised to initial position, as and for the purpose set, forth.

3. In a pottery press, in combination, a vertical standard, a support for a lower ydie-member lextending forwardly from the standard, a bracket extending forwardly from the standard to overhang the said support and having a vertical guide, a plunger reciprocating vertically in said guide and adapted to carry an upper die-member to c0- operate with a lower die-member on said support, circular bearing members rotatably mounted in the bracket, a retary shaft journaled eccentrically in the bearing members and connected with the plunger to reciprocate the same, and manual means for rotating the bearing members to shift the plun-l gervshaft toward the said lower die-member support, as and for the purpose set forth. In testimony whereof I affix my signature' in the .presence of two subscribin witnesses;

` HILMAR M LLER. Witnesses:

Ones. HOWELL Coon, S. S. DUNHAM. 

